Slavery Still Exists

            The title of this article is “A World Enslaved: there are now more slaves on the planet than at any time in human history. True abolition will elude us until we admit the massive scope of the problem, attack it in all its forms and empower slaves to help free themselves.” The author of this particular article is E. Benjamin Skinner, who has been identified as a Quaker. Skinner writes this article to inform the world that slavery still exits today more “than at anytime in human history.” His concern that laws abolishing slavery is brought to life by the examples he quotes. His belief that slavery will continue to grow unless this crime is prosecuted to the highest degree and “encouragement is given to groups that would empower slaves to free themselves.” His descriptions of actual slave purchases contain dismay and horror that we even have this problem in our world today.

            Skinner takes us through the actual purchase of a Haitian girl. His shock that “600 miles from the United States, and five hours away from Manhattan, you have successfully arranged to buy a human being, the purchase of this human being could be used for a slave worker or for sex, for 50 bucks” is evident. His reason for leading the audience through this situation is apparent. How easy it is to purchase another human being. This realistic event alarms the audience by the ease and swiftness of the transactions.

            If the purchase of a 12 year old Haitian girl is not startling enough how about the purchase of a sex slave. Since the slave is uneducated and unaware of laws that prohibit his bondage, he accepts this existence for the way life has to be. We are hesitant to accept that there are people in this world who are not educated enough to know the laws of their own country.

            Skinner’s beliefs about slavery and the abolition of slavery began early in his life. He was raised as a Quaker, who were the first abolitionists. He, as a boy in Sunday School, heard as much about Harriet Tubman as he did about religion. His views about the worth of every human were shaped from the beginning of his life.

            Skinner’s ancestors were abolitionists. His uncle made antislavery speeches while his great-great-grandfather fought with the 1^st Connecticut Artillery, which helped with Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. With this upbringing and influence from family members, Skinner’s ethos is more believable.

            In 2003, Skinner met his first slave survivor. He had to fly under enemy radar and pretend to buy slaves en masse. The young man, Muong Nyong, was the exact age of Skinner and had no idea what to do with his life since he had been in bondage during the first part. After this meeting, Skinner traveled the world to find other slaves. During his search, he became the first to witness on four different continents the sales of human beings.

            Given his family history and personal experience, Skinner’s emotional attachment to slavery increased his desire to learn the degree of the existence of slavery. This encounter led to the drive to inform readers of the reality of slavery. Skinner’s own definition of slavery: that humans are made to work, by threat of violence, for bare existence, explains his emotional bias of slavery. His examples of what slaves are made to do, how they are made to live and even how they slavery began demonstrates his emotional involvement. This start of one slave’s bondage was a loan of 62 cents and three generations earlier. Interest has over 100 percent accrual per year.

            Many readers could experience different emotions while reading this article. There are many different types of emotions. As a reader, what we read can affect us on a day-to-day basis. Every reader is different; some may show how the article affects them, and others may not show what they are feeling or how it affects them. The biggest emotions, you as reader, may feel in this particular article is being upset but also being informed about a situation. The reader is informed that slavery is still present throughout the world, even though there have been anti-trafficking laws passed. The reader may also experience being upset about how these people are being treated. The reader being informed about this particular situation just might be making a difference to those who are enslaved.

            Skinner uses many different facts get his point across about slavery still existing. While Skinner was in Haiti, he met with Benavil Lebhom, who is the richest man in Haiti. Benavil tells Skinner that he is an employment agent and two thirds of his clients are slave children. “The total number of Haitian children in bondage is their own country stands at 300,00.” Child slavery is worse than an adult slavery. Although many parents do not know they are giving their children away to slavery, sometimes children get put into bondage for the rest of their life. “But for every one woman or child enslaved in commercial sex, there are at least 15 men, women and children enslaved in other fields, such as domestic work or agricultural labor.” Women and children get treated worse than men because women and children are weaker.

            Skinner uses more facts to describe logos. “By 2006, 27 states had passed anti- trafficking laws. Yet, during the same period, the United States liberated less than 2 percent of its own modern-day slaves. As many as 17,500 new slaves continue to enter bondage in the United States every day.” As a reader, you can see how one country is trying to abolish slavery. Skinner emphasizes the fact that passing laws alone is not the answer to end slavery. We must educate the slaves, so they will want to be free. Most have no idea that there is any other kind of life, or even that they are not being mistreated.

            Skinner has opened the eyes of the reader to the shocking news that not only is slavery still present in today’s world, but that it exists in greater numbers than in any other time period. By telling actual events and giving realistic examples of slavery, he convinces the reader that we must take action against this horrible injustice that seems to grow bigger every day, even when laws have been passed prohibiting anti-trafficking. The real challenge comes because we must educate slaves so they will want to be free, and to provide rehabilitation and protection to prevent the return to slavery. He describes prevention programs that would educate and support the at-risk countries. His research could help save many if we, as readers, became involved in this effort. Prosecution needs to be aggressive, and encouragement of groups that could educate and empower slaves themselves needs to be present. To agree with Skinner’s opinion, my view is the same as his. I am more informed about the issues with slavery. By reading his article, I realized the extent of slavery and its effects on others. We often are so consumed by our own lives and problems that we don’t acknowledge that problems of this degree exist in our world today. We need to get our heads out of the sand and address this world-wide issue so we can better our society.